I am a lower middle-class white male. I am about to graduate from a respectable four year undergrad program and I have aspirations to work in nonprofit development. A few questions. Does minimum wage exist to provide a means of life for a family of three or four? Or is it rather, (as I believe) a minimum to get by on as an individual until one has the opportunity to improve their skills and contribute their talent to our society in a skilled position?

3:44 pm January 28, 2014

dr.doom wrote:

Rep. Diane Black (R., Tenn.) said the White House was “creating distractions.”

“If the president wants Congress to help him advance his agenda, unilaterally signing executive orders like this is the wrong approach,” Ms. Black said.

And he knows it. All he cares about is catering to the masses with measures that will do little good but sound like he is championing the 'little guy'. Perhaps a policy that both sides can agree on would do more good and if the Republican leadership balks, call them out on it with FACTS, not BS.

3:59 pm January 28, 2014

TPT wrote:

Same effect as the "prevailing wage" laws in many states. Will simply drive up the cost of government operations, resulting in more politicians whining for money,.

4:07 pm January 28, 2014

David wrote:

Econ 101: when minimum wage is higher than market price, more unemployment will be the result.

5:52 pm January 28, 2014

Pastollo wrote:

Enough games out of DC already, we need to increase the minimum wage to $9.00 an hour, and then tie that to the CPI index (a.k.a. rate of inflation ) then we do not need to worry about fights between parties over the minimum wage.

6:06 pm January 28, 2014

Linda wrote:

Pastollo, increasing the minimum wage to $9 won't do squat, either for the economy or for the worker. Even going to $10.10 an hour i not going to do anything to help the minimum wage worker, because all the other people who are currently making 11 or 12 dollars an hour will need a pay increase.

If the president really wanted to help the workers who make minimum wage he would raise it to $30 an hour but he knows that would destroy the economy. So where is that sweet spot where no skilled, little education employees get enough money to buy another big screen TV and prices don't go up, and the minimum wage workers aren't laid off?

7:19 pm January 28, 2014

Bill Spinner wrote:

David, that theory from Econ 101 has been disproven. Yet it persists in myth. So I got to ask, why? Why would a disproven theory persist as myth? Who benefits?
Not low-wage workers, that's for sure.

8:14 am January 29, 2014

derekcrane wrote:

@Bill Spinner: "David, that theory from Econ 101 has been disproven"

By whom? I have yet to see any data that indicates purchasers are willing to buy something in greater quantity at a higher price. It makes no sense. However, I am willing to look at any study which proves just that.

6:08 pm January 29, 2014

I'm On To You wrote:

Small and large businesses need customers far more than they need a tax cut. Ask any small business owner why they are struggling. Unless they are just really brainwashed or just dumb, they will tell you they need customers. I’m sure they also would love more tax cuts too. Come on, 95% of all the money earned in the last few years went to the top 1%. There has been a minim wage for a reason, so we don’t look like the third world countries where families live in mud houses and work for pennies an hour. It’s simple economics. More money in the hands of the majority creates demand for goods. Demand creates jobs. Profits are at record highs for corporations. Yet they are just off shoring the money. The rich have become hoarders. It’s time to not only raise the minimum wage but institute laws that American companies need to reinvest here in the US or get taxed really really heavily to help them understand their responsibility to this country that gave them the opportunity to become rich in the first place. This isn’t hard to understand folks. We just have a very powerful multi national group of billionaires spending billions to convince the less informed that living in poverty is freedom and its better for our economy because the rich just cant make it if they have to share even a penny more for their employees. And if you work really hard you might be the 86th guy in the group that owns more than half the worlds wealth. your odds are better playing the lotto. Raise the Minimum wage!

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